How jon wheeler started their logo design journey

Company name

New Life Center

Overview

We are a church in Bakersfield, California. We are multi-racial, multi-national, multi-aged and multi-talented. We are community driven and focussed. I'm in charge of our media/publications department. I'm pretty comfortable on the video side of things but logo design is not my thing. I need your help.

Tell us a bit about who you are and the people you reach

Our target primarily is our community. We are small-big city. There's a lot of blue collar, hard working, good people here. We're looking for something clean and current with mass-appeal.

Requirements

There's really only 1 must-have in this design...it has to contain, in some form, a palm tree. Whether literal or abstract, palm tree or just a branch, the palm has to be there...think oasis. The last logo we had looked like some Hawaiian Island Creation from the cheesy side of the 80's. Whether clean or grunge, that's up to you...just remember the palm.
Some buzz words that may help: music, contemporary, family, safe, relevant, community, progressive, culture